ARTIST STATEMENT

Tons of information, chaotic structures, digital culture, incomplete narratives, history of art and memory, have been the stimulus that created the need to somehow manage this overwhelming material, with work, turning it into art.

Therefore, I explore the role of painting in the digital age by creating dynamic paintings of vibrant color that are built up through fragmentation, individual micro-stories as well as moments of sheer abstraction.

As an image collector, I begin the creation of my works with a two-way tour of both the virtual and physical worlds. The gathered images of various origins such as pixels, plant motifs, animals, ancient Greek columns, renaissance engravings, children's drawings and scraps of my own works, serve as ready mades for the creation of hybrid compositions.
The digital processing of the images, gives rise to new structures, which are then manually applied to the canvas. There is a reuse of pre-existing data that returns back to material reality.
From abstract landscapes to scenes reminiscent of video games, my paintings play with the boundaries between the familiar and the unexpected, while an underlying sense of humoristic mood lurks behind the brushstrokes. These playful scenarios are articulated in an unencrypted language that invites the viewer to interpret it from scratch, like a psychological test.

BIO

Christina Papaioannou is a visual artist from Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds an Integrated Master’s degree from Athens School of Fine Arts. In 2019 she received the MATAROA Award for upcoming artists at 4th Art Thessaloniki International Contemporary Art Fair.
Her work has been exhibited in Greece, Cyprus and London and is included in private collections.

In May 2022, she presented her first solo exhibition entitled "Let the Lion talk",
at Sianti Gallery, Athens, curated by Thanassis Moutsopoulos.
View more